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Megan Moore Composition 2 A. Gaffney March 11, 2014 To Dope or Not to Dope: The Answer is No As most New York Yankee fans know, Alex Rodriguez finished the 2013 baseball season with 654 home-runs on his career. 654. He is currently fifth in home-run record books. Sadly for A-Rod fans, there will be no 2014 season. Following a lengthy bout with the MLB, Rodriguez was suspended after testing positive for PEDs--testosterone supplements to be exact. Tied to the, now-closed, Biogenesis clinic, Rodriguez and (at least) a dozen others are in the spotlight for cheating the game they love. Non-baseball fans might recognize the name Lance Armstrong: multi-cancer survivor, cyclist and guilty of cheating his sport as well. These two, among several others, are the posterboys for a dark era in athletics. As most people would agree, steroids and other drugs are a major problem in athletics today, not just for the athletes but for those of us who enjoy a just, fair, clean game. For many, many years, doping has been an integral part of athletic society. Research believes that doping derives roots back in ancient Greek and Roman culture, 776 B.C (Baron)! Granted PEDs back in the day were god-awful mixtures of herbs, drugs, and alcohol, the drugs athletes are taking now are just as bad. Margaret Goodman, a neurologist and the president of the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA), explains the different side-effects of steroids. As a ringside physician of boxing matches, she’s listened to the boxers talk about performance-enhancing drugs. Fighters using dope described the horrible consequences: heart, kidney, liver, bone, brain and psychiatric ailment (Goodman). Recently, there is a push for the legalization of steroids and various other PE... ...cles and testosterone. Where’s the fun in knowing someone is cheating a sport they love? As more and more athletes come under-fire, the accomplishments of well-to-do athletes are covered up. How many baseball fans knew Johan Santana, a former Minnesota Twin, threw his first no-hitter in 2012? This no-hitter was also the first in the new York Mets team history. Meanwhile, that same season, favorites like Melky Cabrera and Bortolo Colon, among others, were suspended after testing positive for PEDs. Not only are performance-enhancing drugs destroying our athletes’ bodies, they are destroying the sports we enjoy. The athletes we look up to are leaving a negative effect on the children looking up to them. If we allow this practice to continue, or even worse, legalize steroids, we run the risk of hurting our athletes, our students and the good integrity of our sports.